Chicken Gutting 101
by spiritx33
Summary: Sophia gets a lesson in Chicken Gutting 101. Kid Nation.


**Title:** Chicken Gutting 101  
**Author:** spiritx33  
**Disclaimer:** If you're that concerned about a disclaimer, check my profile. However, I do have to say that I don't know the kids, so their actions and thoughts may be completely unlike them, and any background information in this fic could very well be wrong.  
**Genre:** General  
**Rating:** T  
**Synopsis:** Sophia gets a lesson in Chicken Gutting 101.  
**Characters:** Greg & Sophia  
**Warning:** Even those with weak stomachs should be okay… but no promises!  
**Author's Note #1:** This fic was originally posted at the LiveJournal community "kidnationfanfic".  
**Author's Note #2:** Because I have no shame at all, I'm promoting my own "Kid Nation" fansite. If you love the Green District as much as I do (or almost as much as I do), come check it out: freewebs . com / kngreendistrict

"Alright, Sophia. C'mon."

Clear blue eyes met hazel ones as fourteen-year-old Sophia looked across the kitchen table at Greg, Bonanza City's oldest pioneer. In his hands he held tonight's dinner--a headless, naked chicken. Part of her was repulsed by the sight of it, with blood oozing out of where its neck should've been, but the other part of her was ecstatic that they were finally going to have something other than canned food for dinner. It was the fifth day into their stay in Bonanza, and the kids were long overdue for some meat.

"Okay," Sophia said as she skirted her way around the table toward Greg. "What do you need me to do?" She picked up a pair of latex gloves and put them on while he took the knife he thought would be best for the job and plunged it into the middle of the chicken's stomach.

"Make a slit, and then just go ahead and start digging," he explained as he cut a straight line from the middle of the chicken to the end.

Sophia looked up from the chicken to Greg, a somewhat surprised look on her face. "That's it? Just start digging?"

"Yup." He placed the knife down on the table and stepped back to give her room.

Without hesitation, Sophia stepped up to the table, grabbed hold of the chicken's legs, and looked for the best spot to stick her hand in. As disgusting as it was, it needed to be done. She was the only pioneer besides Greg who had actually stepped up to do the dirty work and she wasn't about to back out of it. Besides... it would be a great story to tell everyone back home.

Upon finding the spot she wanted to dig from, Sophia turned the chicken to make it easier for her to reach inside, and got a strong whiff of something foul. "Oh my God, that smells so bad," she said, arching backward in an attempt to get as far away from the smell as possible. The action got a laugh out of Greg.

"What?" she asked.

"You can't gut a chicken standing like that," he said. "Do you want my bandana to cover your nose?"

"No, I'm fine," she said, and ever so slowly, her posture returned to normal. "Thanks, though."

Greg nodded his head and watched silently as Sophia started digging. He noted the determined, yet grossed-out expression on her face, and couldn't help but smile. Her reactions were exactly what he had been thinking back when he had gutted his first chicken.

"This is, without a doubt, the grossest thing I've ever done in my entire life," she commented as she wrinkled her nose and pulled out what had to be the chicken's intestines.

Seeing that she had nothing to put the guts on, Greg went over to the counter and took one of the very few plates that were actually clean, then brought it back to the table. "Here," he said, placing the white plate down behind the cutting board. "Put everything on there."

Sophia gladly dropped the guts onto the plate and once again dove back into the chicken. "Try not to rupture the organs. Because that's a mess we want to avoid," Greg mentioned. That had happened with his first chicken and the smell had been ten times worse. However, it seemed like Sophia was doing fine on her own.

She continued the gutting while various kids came in and out of the kitchen, each one with their own comment on how disgusting that was. She had agreed each and every time, usually with a "you have no idea" thrown in. It was absolutely disgusting and she was more than ready for it to end. With a sigh, she absentmindedly shifted from her left foot to her right as she continued to fish around inside the chicken and fill up the plate with more guts.

"Be careful," Greg said almost immediately after she had moved. Her arm was dangerously close to the knife he had used earlier to make a slit in the chicken with and the last thing he wanted was for her to get cut. She watched as his hand reached through the space between her arms and her torso to push away the knife, thankful that he had caught that.

"Thanks," she said once again. "You know, it's a good thing you're here."

This brought the cockiest of smirks to the fifteen-year-old's face. "I know."

Sophia rolled her eyes and shook her head at Greg's response while her hand moved around in the inside of what was now a hollow chicken. "I think I'm done," she said as she pulled her hands out.

"Are you?" Greg asked, straightening up. "Let me see." He stepped up to the chicken as she moved out of the way and stuck his hand into it. She was indeed done. "Yup." He removed his hand.

"Okay, now what you do," he started as he backed away from the table, "you want to take the chicken over to the sink and wash it out with water." He beckoned her over toward the sink and grabbed a bucket of water on his way. She took the chicken by its legs and held it over the sink while Greg poured a little bit of water inside the chicken. "Then you just kind of move your hand around in there, make sure you rinse it out good."

The two stayed at the sink until Greg was sure the chicken was rinsed good enough, at which point he backed away and smiled at Sophia. "And there you go. You just gutted your first chicken." He was proud of her. "Now when you're at home and want chicken for dinner, you can do it yourself."

Sophia stared at Greg. "I'll stick to the supermarket."


End file.
